Get out

I've always liked the way a shadow play can imply much more than is actually there.
For this shot I've used a frame with a large sheet a tracing paper, and placed the figures as close to it as I can.
Getting the lighting right here is very tricky, as I didn't want to confuse the image, with the figures and their shadows.
In hindsight I think the tracing paper screen used here is actually not translucent enough - maybe a plastic screen, or a lightly frosted glass would be easier to set up.

Behind you

A single Halogen bulb is lighting this set, with a red color gel over half of it, which gives the two color tones.
Also the small bulb works well with these small models.
The point of this test was to work with some color lighting, which as you can see I've chosen to use the "over the top" technique.
I tried this shot with a black background, but it was too hard to read the figures - which are already hard to read, being wood, so it actually a white card, about 15cms behind the figures..

Stop with the light

It's amazing what you can do, with one light, and a black backdrop.
This is taken with a wide aperture F5.7, exposure 1sec, quite close.
The other thing to play with is the "dutch tilt".
The wooden Mannequin is always standing vertically, so tilting the camera gives a more dynamic shot - dare I say, less wooden!